Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-09-10
CHAPTER Nj.


CHAPTER NJ.
THE FRowNING CITY.
For m hour or more | sat waiting Um-
slopogaas having meanwhile gone to sleep
also, till at length the east turned gray and
huge misty shapes moved over the surface OF
the water like ghosts Of long forgotten dawns.
They were the vapors rising from their
wa,ery bel TO greet the sun. Then the gray
turned TO primrose, and the primrose grew TO
red. Next. glorious bars of light sprang up
across the eastern sky, and through them the
radiant messengers of the dawn came speed
ing upon their arrowy way, scattering the
ghostiy vapors and awaking the mo'zntaIns
with a kiss, as they flew from range 10 range
and Longitude TO longitude. Another mo-
ment. and the golden gates were open, and
the sun himself came forth as a bridegroom
from his chamber, with pomp and glory and
a flashing as Of l0,00o,oOo spears, and en-
braced the night ard covered her with bright
ness. and it was day.
But as vet I could see nothing save the
beautiful blue sky above; for over the water
was a thick layer Of mist exactly as though
the whole surface had been covered with
biIlows of cotton wool. BY degrees, however,
the sun sucked up the mists, and then l saw
that We were atluat upon a glorious sheet
of blue water of which could not make out
the shore. Some eight or ten miles behind
lis however, there stretched as far as the eye
could reach a range OF preCipltous hills that
formed a retaining wall Of the lake, and
nave no doubt but that it was through some
entrance in these hills that the suhterranean
river found its way into the open water. In
deed. afterwards ascertained this to be the
fact: and n will be some indication Of the
extraordinary strength and directness OF the
current of the mysterious river that the
canoe, even at this distance, was still answer
ing 10 it. Presently, too, /, or rather Umslo-
pogaas. who woke up just then, discovered
another indication. and a very unpleasant
one il was Perceiving some whitish object
upon the wat'r. CnIslopocaas called my
attention to il, and with few strokes of the
paddle brought the canoe to the spot, where
upon We discovered that the object was the
body of a man floating face downward This
was bad enough, but imagine my horror
when Uuslopo-aas having turned him on TO
his back with the paddle We recognized III the
srInken features the lneamentS of-whom
do YOU suppose, None other than our
poor servant who had been sucked down
two DAYS before in the waters Of the sub
terranean river. 1t quite frightened NE.
thought that We had left him behind forever;
and behold borne by the current. be had
made the awful journey with u.s. and with us
had reached the end His appearance also
was dreadful. for he bore traces OF having
touched the pillar of fire-one arm being
completely shrlveled up. and all his hair
being burnt off. The features We're, as
have said, sunken, and yet they preserved
upon them that awful look of despair that
had seen upon his living face as the poor fel-
low was sucked down. Really the sight un-
nerved me. weary and shaken as l felt with
all that We had gone through, and l wa,
heartily glad, when suddenly, and without
any warning, the body began to sink just as
though il had had a mission, which having
been accomplished. it retired; the real reason,
no doubt being that turning it on its back.
allowed a free passage to the gas Down it
went into the transparent depths-fathom
after fathom we could trace its course, till at
last long line of bright air bubbles, swiftly
chasing each other to the surface, alone re-
manned where it had passed. At length
these too were gone. and that was an end of
our poor servant Umslopogaas thoughtfuIly
watched the body vanish.
What did he follow us for?7 he asked
"'Tis an i'll omen for thee and me, Macuma
zahn." And he laughed
l turned on him angrily, for dislike these
unpleasant suggestions. If people have such
ideas they ought in common decency To keep
them to themselves. ! detest individuals who
make one the subject of their disagreeable
preSentiments, or who, when they dream that
they saw one hanged a common felon. or
some such horror, will insist upon telling one
all about it at breakfast, even If they have to
get up early to do il.
Just then, however, the others woke up and
began to rejoice exceedingly at finding t.at
We were out Of that dreadful river and once
more beneath the blue sky.
When we had been sailing for an hour
Good, who was searching the horizon with
n spyglass, suddenly announced jo7fully that
he saw land. and pointed out that. from the
change in the color of the water he thought
We must be approaching the mouth Of a
river. In another minute We perceived a
great golden dome, not unlike that of st.
Pauls, piercing the morning mists. and while
We We're wondering what III the world it could
b., Good reported another and still more i'm
portant discovery, namely, that a small sail
ing boat was advancing toward us. This bit
ii news, which We were very shortly able to
verify with our own eyes, threw us into q
considerable i,utter That the natives Of this
unknown lake should understand the art Of
sailing seemed 10 suggest that they possessed
some degree Of civilization. In a few more
minutes il became evident that the occupant
or OCCUPANTS of the advancing boa; had made
us out. For moment or two she hung IN
the wind as though i'll doubt, and then came
tacking toward Us with great swlitnesS. In
ten more minutes she was within a hundred
yards. and we saw that she vas neat little
boat-not u canoe "duSout,' but built more
or less i'll European fashion with pianks, and
carrying a singularly large sail for her size.
But our attention was soon diverted from the
boat TO her crew. which consisted of a man
and woman nearly as white Us ourselves.
We stared at each other in amazeraent,
thinking that We must be mistaken; but no,
there was no doubt about it. They were not
fair, but the two people in the boat were de-
cidedly of white as distinguished from q
black race--as white for instance, rs Span